Beginnings
By Griffin Beels, Brown University ’21
Hi! I am a rising junior at Brown University, participating in SIP, MassDiGI’s Summer Innovation Program. We’ve been in session since the middle of May, so we’re starting to get into the meat of game production!
Within these last three weeks, we’ve been moving very fast-paced (while having ample opportunities to ask questions), and truly have accomplished a lot already.
Griffin Beels celebrating National Donut Day during SIP19.
First, we split off into groups — all of the developers were placed on teams for the rest of the summer. I’m on Team Cherry, and am actually the producer! This means that I seek to coordinate within our team to determine how we want to progress. That is, asking questions about our goals or knowledge, and using that to recognize an ideal path. I have an extraordinary amount to learn, and I hope to improve as much as I possibly can as a producer this summer, to make sure my teammates and I are working together with synergistic efficiency.
Next, we determined as a group what type of game we wanted to pursue. Our group chose to look at “endless runners,” or games wherein you keep playing forever until you hit an obstacle (e.g., Jetpack Joyride, Temple Run, Subway Surfers). We conducted market research to construct a taxonomy of endless runners, which was in essence a massive guideline of what goes into an endless runner.
After we constructed our taxonomy, we constructed 3 “white boxes,” or essentially rough drafts of a few ideas that we had — and got to present our white boxes to elementary school students in the Worcester area, which was an awesome experience. One student in particular made me smile extremely hard when he celebrated after making it to the next platform in one of our white boxes.
Finally, we have officially moved onto production; as such, we are refining our code bases, art styles, and designs to start building an awesome game from the ground up.
Everyone’s incredible, and I am super excited to not only work with such talented artists and programmers, but also get to know everyone and learn from them! I hope the summer keeps being great!
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Join us at TouchTomorrow: A Festival of Science, Technology & Robots at WPI. SIP19 teams will be on hand in the Sports & Rec Center demoing their games!
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Join us as we take part in a panel discussing “Esports & Gaming: Strategies & Opportunities for Entrepreneurs.” RSVP here.
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MassDiGI, in collaboration with Becker College and the New England Council, will be hosting a half-day discussion on the “Future of Work” featuring Cong. James P. McGovern and panels of academic and business leaders. Invitation only.
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Play Smash? Join us on May 18 for a special event. Registration required. Please visit https://bit.ly/2UzfhrR for more info.
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Join us on May 11 for the MSAA/PlayVS Massachusetts State High School Esports Championship featuring Rocket League and League of Legends. Stay tuned for more information.
When: 11:00am
Where: Becker College, Barrett Center, 80 William St., Worcester
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SIP19 team selected
By Timothy Loew, Executive Director
Since 2012, applications to our annual Summer Innovation Program (SIP) have grown year over year in terms of quality, geographic reach, major, and diversity. This year we received applications from over 250 undergraduate and graduate students representing an 66 colleges and universities from around the world – making it one of our most competitive years ever.
Choosing only 25 as interns was very challenging. After many long hours of discussion, the committee selected a really talented group. This summer’s SIP19 team will be made up of interns from 16 institutions including Becker College, Berklee College of Music, Brown University, Cornell University, Emerson College, Lesley University, Letterkenny Institute of Technology (Ireland), Maine College of Art, MIT, Mt. Holyoke College, Northeastern University, RPI, RIT, School of Visual Arts, Wellesley College and WPI.
SIP19 begins on May 14 and concludes on August 11. Over those 12 weeks or so, with guidance from staff and industry mentors, SIP19 teams will be responsible for all the work necessary to prepare a game for launch. Simply put, there is no internship program like it in the world.
As in prior years, SIP19 interns will receive housing courtesy of Becker College as well as a modest stipend. Most importantly they will all receive the greatest game development experience of their lives. Sure, it may be a lot of work but it’s also a lot of fun – we can’t wait to get started.
UPDATE – In addition to the SIP19 interns, we’re also pleased to welcome 3 more to SIP19 Extension (SIP19X). These 3 come from RISD and Becker.
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All are welcome to attend a talk by the IGDA’s Jen MacLean on the “Future of Games” on April 4 at 2p at the Barrett Center in Worcester. This talk is part of the Franklin M. Loew Lecture Series at Becker College and the Inauguration of President Nancy P. Crimmin. It’s co-hosted by MassDiGI. Seats are limited. RSVP to lecturesatbeckerdotedu.
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It’s on! Lead the Light takes off
Lead the Light, a free, fun and exciting physics-based arcade game, is available for download now on the Apple App Store and Google Play.
It’s the dawn of a new day, and Alpy the sun spirit is on a mission to bring warmth and light to the world. In his way is Auster, a vengeful winter spirit who wants ice and snow to rule the land. Block falling ice, fend off Auster, and keep Alpy safe as he rises to the top!
The mobile game was created during the 2018 MassDiGI Summer Innovation Program (SIP) by students Caroline Pasyanos from Northeastern, Adrian Michalowski from LYIT, Yukon Wainczak from Becker, Kate Olguin from WPI, Brittaney Chang from NYU, Matt Surka from Brown and Maxime Gautier from Berklee College of Music.
Working over t he summer, the team produced a beta/near-release version of the game – watch the trailer here. From there, we brought the game into our LiveStudio program at Becker during the fall ’18 and spring ’19 semesters. Through LiveStudio, more students across a range of disciplines, including business students, had roles in polishing the game and getting it ready to launch. For a roster of all the contributors to the game, check out the credit roll. You can download Lead the Light today for iOS and Android.
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Slide, slide, slippity, slide with Line Slider
Line Slider, a free, fun and exciting side-scroller, is available for download now on the Apple App Store and Google Play.
Paint and slide your way around as Bip, a mischievous vandal intent on mayhem! Paint and draw your way through foreign lands where the villagers can’t stand you and the bigger the mess you can make, the better! Cruise through rolling green hillsides and quaint villages, but be sure to escape the grasp of the angry villagers! Forget about being a hero, bad guys have all the fun! How many villages can you leave you vandalize before you get caught?
The mobile game was created during the 2018 MassDiGI Summer Innovation Program (SIP) by students Dain Woods from Brown, Victoria Yong and Tristan Lacroix from Becker, Alice Li from Wellesley, Nick Carbonara from NYU, Zena Abulhab from Colby and Maxime Gautier from Berklee College of Music.
Working over the summer, the team produced a beta/near-release version of the game – watch the trailer here. From there, we brought the game into our LiveStudio program at Becker during the fall ’18 and spring ’19 semesters. Through LiveStudio, more students across a range of disciplines, including business students, had roles in polishing the game and getting it ready to launch. For a roster of all the contributors to the game, check out the credit roll. You can download Line Slider today for iOS and Android.
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